Starting My Treasure Hunting In England

Since the document in the hands of the library director was the earliest version of these documents, and possibly even the most original version, Liang En and the others went to Manchester with Professor Alexander early the next morning.

Manchester is a city with a population of about 500,000. It is also an urban municipality and single management area of ​​Greater Manchester County in the northwest region of England. It is an important transportation hub and commercial, financial, industrial and cultural center in the UK, and an international metropolis.

The city is located in the center of the urban agglomeration of northwest England, on the plains of northwest England and adjacent to the Pennine Mountains to the east. It is the birthplace of the cotton textile industry and the first industrialized city in the world.

More than two hundred years ago, the world's earliest modern cotton textile industry was born here, ushering in the industrial revolution. Manchester also became the pioneer of a new generation of large industrial cities with the emergence of the cotton spinning industry.

As time goes by, this city has always been at the forefront of the times. Now, it's very electronic, centered around electronics, chemicals and printing.

With more than 700 industries including heavy machinery, weaving, oil refining, glass, plastics and food processing, it is not only the political and cultural center of the North West of England, but also a center of business and employment.

The Chetham Library that Liang En and the others were going to was located in the center of this ancient industrial city. It was a red sandstone building with a long history. The main part of the building was first built in 1421.

Although this old, outdated small library submerged in the modern metropolitan buildings looks ordinary on the surface, and is not even conspicuous in the center of Manchester, Liang En and the others dare not look down upon this library. .

It was created to compete with the academic libraries of Oxford and Cambridge in the south-east of England and to provide a place for independent study and research in the north-west of England.

Going back to 1653, a successful cloth merchant named Humphrey Cheetham donated money to build this library. He solemnly stated in his will:

Libraries should be "for the use of scholars and others under the influence of scholars" and librarians "should make no demands on anyone who comes to the library."

When the library was built, the earliest trustees began to provide services to doctors, lawyers and clergy in Manchester and the surrounding area. They collected books and newspapers covering a wide range of knowledge.

But later, with the emergence of more and more libraries, Chetham Library changed the direction of its collection, focusing on collecting works from the northwest of England.

Statistics show that of the more than 120,000 printed items, more than half were published before 1850, including books and periodicals from the 16th and 17th centuries, and there are also more than 40 precious medieval manuscripts. As for modern manuscripts, there are many more.

The library now houses many rare first editions of books, such as Samuel Johnson's "Dictionary of the English Language" published in 1755. It took the British writer, critic and lexicographer seven years to compile this dictionary.

The long poem "Paradise Lost" written by the British poet and political commentator Milton in 1667 shows the majestic momentum of an epic poem.

The 16th century English version of the "Nuremberg Chronicle" published in Nuremberg on July 12, 1493 by the German humanist scholar Hartmann Scheidel.

This world history work is based on the Bible and records many events in history. It is one of the most comprehensively compiled early printed books with an excellent mix of pictures and text.

Because of these books, countless celebrities have visited here in history, including Marx, Engels, Dalton, Joule, and Charlotte, the author of "Jane Eyre", and a series of other celebrities have visited here. I have been reading and studying here for a long time.

After walking into the library, Liang En and the others found that there was history everywhere inside the library just like outside. For example, there were still iron chains on some tables, which were preparations made in the past to prevent theft.

Because they had made an appointment in advance, Liang En and the others quickly found the librarian who was waiting for them here. Then they went to a room with small windows on three sides and sat down around a small wooden table. .

"This table was used by Marx and Engels." After everyone sat down around this seat, the curator said proudly, and then took out a document in a box and showed it to everyone got up.

"This is the document collected in our library. It is older than the documents you have. I even suspect that this document may be the most original document."

"Why do you say that?" Liang En asked curiously as he watched the librarian put a special doily on the book and then quietly unfolded the yellowed old paper.

"On the one hand, this document is the oldest of the three known documents. You know that ancient documents in this regard often represent closer to the truth." Mr. Curator said while slowly unfolding the document.

"On the other hand, it's because this document contains some things that are not in your two documents. I think these things should be the key to unlocking the mystery, at least part of the key."

The document was soon unfolded, and everyone focused on this ancient document. The front of the document was no different from the documents in Liang En's hands. They were all messed up with Latin letters.

But when the document was turned over, several people were surprised to find a black mark on the back of the document.

This mark is a black sun with a sword cross, the capital letters JHS and three nails painted inside the sun. It seems to be the logo of a certain Christian organization.

"Jesuit?" The first time they saw this sign, Liang En and Professor Alexander next to him recognized what the sign represented.

The Society of Jesus is one of the main religious orders in the Catholic Church. Founded in Paris in 1534 by the Spanish Saint Ignatius of Loyola to oppose the European Reformation.

The entire organization follows the example of military discipline and formulates strict rules, so it is also called "Jesus Company". In addition to strictly observing the "absolute wealth", "absolute beauty", "absolute will" and "three vows", religious members should also be unconditionally loyal to the Pope and perform all tasks assigned by him.

In order to facilitate the penetration of all strata of society, this organization abolished professional uniforms and did not live in monasteries. It carried out various activities through preaching, opening schools and hospitals, serving as official positions and confessing to princes, etc.

Bourgeois thinkers in the 18th century criticized this organization, and some European countries banned it. In 1773 Pope Clement XIV announced its dissolution. It was restored in 1814. Since the 1960s, it has become an important force in promoting Catholic modernization.

At the same time, for the Chinese people, this organization is also one of the earliest Catholic organizations that China came into contact with. It began sending missionaries to China during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty.

Francis Xavier (1506-1552), the first Jesuit to come to China, arrived at Sichuan Island off the coast of Guangdong in the 30th year of Jiajing (1551), and died on the island the following year.

In 1939, the first batch of Jesuits arrived in Macau. In the fourth year of Wanli (1576), the Diocese of Macao was established. Historically, from 1552 to 1800, there were about 780 foreign Jesuits in China and about 130 Chinese Jesuits. They have also become the most important media for ideological and cultural exchanges in the spread of middle schools to the West and the spread of Western learning to the East.